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I just finished watching the first two episodes of Kamen Rider Kuuga, and so far I'm still a bit meh about it, especially with the action scenes. I'm confident things will get better later in the run, we'll see.

btw Any word on who will be the next Kamen Rider after Wizard? I think it's a good time to ask since he's reached his Final Form, Infinity Style.

I like Kamen Rider. Especially How I got into Masked Rider (the American version) through the 90's and it's cool and all, I just don't really watch them all because there are a lot of different versions like Super Sentai and Ultraman. But to be honest, my 3 favorite ones are W, OOO and Wizard. Probably because they look the coolest. I want to get the new game Battride War but I'm worried I won't be able to play the Japanese game on my American PS3.

You liked Saban's Masked Rider, even how messed up it is? Ok, Ok I enjoyed it too, I admit it. But I always found the Electro Saber finisher a bit off. As if kids can't handle bad guys being impaled or sliced in half, especially with VR Troopers keeping its Japanese footage intact. I do plan on watching Kamen Rider BLACK and BLACK RX eventually, just to see the series properly. Same goes for Choujinki Metalder, Uchuu Keiji Shaider and Jikuu Senshi Spielban. Any Metal Heroes threads in here?

Anywho, watched through 10 episodes of Kuuga and all base forms have been introduced. And I must say the series breaks the mold a bit with the Police Department actively fighting the Grongi and offering Kuuga support. On the flipside, I would not want to be a civilian in the series, it has a rather high mortality rate Looks promising so far.

'Sup, I'm a Rider fan too. I've seen everything from Ryuki to present, and I'm more than halfway through Kuuga right now, planning to watch Agito after this, and then go back and see Kamen Rider '71 and BLACK.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:btw Any word on who will be the next Kamen Rider after Wizard? I think it's a good time to ask since he's reached his Final Form, Infinity Style.

We usually start seeing information about the next rider in mid-late May, since the calendar shift. They've gotta let the kids enjoy the Infinity stuff for a while before they get ready for Neo-Heisei 5th/Heisei 15th anniversary.Personally I'm hoping for a way better show than Wizard, which has been dragging its feet under the weight of too many toys and not enough plot. I feel sorry for the actors, they're mostly decent but the terrible writing leaves them with nothing to do.I'll be curious to see if the next rider has some sort of 6 motif, since we've been building up since Decade:1 card2 Memories3 Medals4 switches5 fingers (maybe 5 elements? Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Diamond)6 ???

Skipping back to Kuuga (sorry, I jump around a lot):I love this show, holy crap. The CG is crap but I don't turn to Toei for quality CG work. The plotting is amazing and it demonstrates how to effectively use a two-episode formula, a piece of advice many of the more recent shows could take a hint from. You can clearly see that they had more time to plan out this show than others, which makes sense since it was the first Rider show in 11 years, and the planning pays off so well. The story is well-paced, the characters are diverse and likable without being complete exaggerations of what real people are like (*coughWizardcough*), the Grongi are built up slowly and have a legitimate air of mystery about them as opposed to the artificial mystery of enemies like the Phantoms, the Horoscopes, the Greeeds, or the Fangire. At the time of this writing, I'm at episode 30 and Godai has just achieved Rising Mighty Form for the first time. It's cool stuff.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:After OOO ended, I'm pretty surprised he never got a proper Final Form like Double's CycloneJoker Extreme.

I know this is an old post, but it demands to be addressed. OOO's final form is PuToTyra; TaJaDor is just the mid-season upgrade. Physically, Gil is stronger than Ankh, and so are his medals, which is why Ankh had to reason With Eiji to try to revert him back to humanity when he was losing himself.

The fifth element is either Ether or Void, corresponding to current tradition. Infinity Style can be seen as either or: Ether is often seen as the primeval substance that spawned all other elements, but infinity in itself is devoid of limits.

I think I read somewhere that the 6th series will be the final series before re-evaluation of current production strategies for "Neo-Heisei". If it's a success, we'll see one more period in the same format.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:I think I read somewhere that the 6th series will be the final series before re-evaluation of current production strategies for "Neo-Heisei". If it's a success, we'll see one more period in the same format.

What is that supposed to mean, though? No more Movie Wars? Shifting the broadcast back to be parallel with Sentai, cutting into their profits and giving them nothing to sell between October and February? Or just cutting the budget back a bit, maybe trying to shove in fewer collectibles?

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:I think I read somewhere that the 6th series will be the final series before re-evaluation of current production strategies for "Neo-Heisei". If it's a success, we'll see one more period in the same format.

What is that supposed to mean, though? No more Movie Wars? Shifting the broadcast back to be parallel with Sentai, cutting into their profits and giving them nothing to sell between October and February? Or just cutting the budget back a bit, maybe trying to shove in fewer collectibles?

What I don't get is why make secondary Riders? I know some are designed after the main one but like KR Beast. Doesn't look anything like Wizard but is still the secondary one on that show when they could've made a new series about that one.

I started watching KR Kabuto last night because I haven't seen this one yet. The firt 2 episodes made Tendou look pretty badass I won't lie. I only watched up to episode 4 but I'm about to continue it now.

Wigglez wrote:I started watching KR Kabuto last night because I haven't seen this one yet. The firt 2 episodes made Tendou look pretty badass I won't lie. I only watched up to episode 4 but I'm about to continue it now.

From what I've seen Kabuto is definitely cast from a different mold. However, I have a long ways to go before I reach that series (though I may skip Hibiki for the time being).

I'm halfway into Kuuga, past the first and so far only standalone episode (which happens to be a recap episode), down to the three-parter with the death cap mushroom, the debut of Rising Titan and the beginning of the final set of Gurongi. And I must say I'm really impressed so far. Once I finish it I'm diving straight into the semi-sequel Agito.

Wigglez wrote:I started watching KR Kabuto last night because I haven't seen this one yet. The firt 2 episodes made Tendou look pretty badass I won't lie. I only watched up to episode 4 but I'm about to continue it now.

Kabuto........my first rider. I liked it at the time, but looking back, it was pretty flawed. No great surprise, Shoji Yonemura cannot write to save his life.

Kuuga: I got to episode 35, where the actions of one particular Grongi cause Godai to completely lose his cool and he just beats the crap out of it. First hint of Ultimate Form. This show is amazing. It epitomizes what a Masked Rider should be. The bike stunts are awesome and frequent, unlike pretty much every rider series in recent memory. How many bike scenes has Wizard had? Maybe 3? Also the Gouram is a much less obnoxious bike powerup than the Wizardragon, the thing W had, the Kabuto and Gatack Extenders....this shows what Toei can do if they allow some time to plan a series out beforehand.

Also, I just finished the show. The ending is a bit strange, but on the whole, Kuuga is an awesome show and the kind of show that all Kamen Rider should strive to be. Sadly, that's not likely to happen given current target demographics and development cycles. Anyway, I have a few other shows to wrap up, and then it's on to Agito!

Ah, Showa. I shall go down the Showa path after I finish Agito....because really, after you've seen all Heisei, what else is there to do? I'll probably start with Black as well, and then....who knows. Maybe X, because Starfish Hitler is a thing.

Also, I just finished the show. The ending is a bit strange, but on the whole, Kuuga is an awesome show and the kind of show that all Kamen Rider should strive to be. Sadly, that's not likely to happen given current target demographics and development cycles. Anyway, I have a few other shows to wrap up, and then it's on to Agito!

I agree that the ending seems strange, but that just adds to the charm, doesn't it?

Yes, I finished Kuuga as well. I'll be doing the extras, like the New Years Special (aka Episode 46.5) and the Super Secret Video later. Maybe after I finish Agito.